Why bicycle across America ever, and why do it now?
I get these questions. Meaning, people do ask me and they are in fact good questions (I get it). I have several answers, some about me, some about it, some about how I hope this ride changes things in my little world. So let's start with the little circle and get bigger.
Why am I doing this for me?
I want to be doing active things for a long time to come, even though I am entering a phase of life when most of my age peers are trying to figure out how to check out. I want to be challenged to grow, to do things that only strong and fit people can do, so when I'm out there doing them, I only have to be around people who have and do put in the work to be strong and fit.
But I have been only marginally fit for a long time now. I'm skilled, and determined, but in preparing to lead adventures, I developed the habit of putting off my own fitness work until the last minute. Too often, I’d end up hurt. Then I’d lead an adventure, for instance, to climb Aconcagua in Argentina, and I would be hurting and kind of miserable the whole time, while making a charade of myself with people I respected and who saw right through my act.
I have often said that in adventures, and in adventure leadership, you suffer. Your choice is to suffer chronically, by doing your training well ahead of time (which is hard to do, and hurts) or acutely, by heading out without training, and either getting hurt or blowing yourself up by doing so much work that you are not prepared to do (which seems easier, but is actually much, much worse. And also hurts).
In January, Fat Mark was not capable of riding across America. The only way to do this without blowing up was to absolutely commit to becoming Fit Mark. And by publicly announcing that I was going to do this, I really kicked my crutch out and had to do the work, make the transformation, or look like an attention-grabbing idiot.
Why am I doing this for the Center for Adventure Leadership?
We are reinventing ourselves to become a community of practice that is audacious, difficult, and necessary, while acknowledging that the overwhelming temptation is to try to do this transformational work incrementally, safely, and with little cost or risk. Which is absurd. So I am riding across America precisely because it's audacious, difficult and necessary.
It's necessary to show that the skills, methods and mindsets we teach and use make it not just possible, but inevitable, for us to do audacious and difficult things. Also, we are REALLY GOOD AT THIS. I can do this ride for the same reason I can help lead our organization: because WHAT WE DO AND WHAT WE TEACH WORKS, IN REALITY. And if it doesn't, I will fail and you can ignore the Center for Adventure Leadership.
And another thing for CAL: we need the money.
Not only that, we need to learn to ASK for the money, and to do that, we need to do things that are worth asking for. This brings me back to the point above: we are in a time and place where audacity, difficulty and necessity are not life accessories, but life necessities. We need the money and I am asking you to help fund our work.
Finally, Resonance.
This trip will resonate with some people. It will not resonate for most people. I want to know for whom it resonates, and for whom it doesn't. I am entering a new, highly active and purposeful phase of my life. I want to pursue my life in this new phase with people who get what I get, value it and can be depended on to do something about it. These people will be my Top Drawer Partners.
For people to whom this makes no sense, I’ll better understand who they are, and not bother them anymore. It's also my way of knowing who will not make the cut as my ongoing partners, and colleagues. It will be "Have a great life! See ya!" for some, and "Let's do this!" for others. I only have so much attentional bandwidth and it would be a shame to use that paying attention to people who just don't care, or who legitimately have other interests and urgencies. Better that I be present to people who really value this stuff and want to help make it real for themselves and other likeminded people.
Humanity is, right now, bifurcating into the "We'll work together to build a great future" crowd, and the "I'll wait for the easier, less risky way" crowd. I know who I want my people to be, and who I want to be for my people. For the rest, it's "So long and good luck".
I did an epic bike ride as a college student, to see America and learn about myself and my place among my people.
It was my young man's walkabout, a journey of discovery. The ride in my sixties is a proof of capacity, of veracity, of commitment to a way of living. Can I walk (ride) my talk? Can I transform myself into a version of myself who can do what's necessary, even when it is inconvenient? Do the skills, methods, and mindsets I teach actually work? This ride is not about discovery, it's about trust. To what extent can I be trusted to have aligned my espoused values with my actions? If I finish the ride or fail in a way that involves honest growth and learning, I'm the real deal. If I bug out, wipe out stupidly, cheat, lie, or make stuff up that can't be backed up, I'm a fake, and deserve to be ignored.
So what's it going to be? Fat Mark or Fit Mark? Truth or fiction? Reality or smoke and mirrors? Actual capacity or clever marketing? Excellence or excuses? Only one last day. Let's find out!
